Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Thursday, October 1, 2026Official site

The San Joaquin Planning Commission approved meeting minutes, passed three non-contested items, and approved a conditional use permit for a 15-acre solar energy facility in Linden.

About this meeting

Government Body
Planning Commission
Meeting Type
Planning Commission
Location
San Joaquin County, CA
Meeting Date
October 1, 2026

Published excerpts

Only published remarks appear here. The full transcript is not published.

17 sections (from 18 segments)

8:56•Chris Meehleis

I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of 8-20-26.

10:32•Chris Meehleis

I'll make a motion to accept item one, two, and three as presented.

15:39•Chris Meehleis

You had said screening. What do you mean by screening?

16:26•Chris Meehleis

How tall is it? I know, I'm asking a technical question.

28:54 – 29:17•Gloryanna Rhodes

If I may ask the applicant through the chair? You say that there's no impact to water, but I'm trying to create a picture in my mind of what's around the plant itself. I'm assuming you have land that is not part of the building.

29:32 – 29:47•Gloryanna Rhodes

Okay, and they will be, because especially in those areas, if there is, you have to water the dirt, even if it's dirt or you're gonna get tremendous amounts of dust out there. So then that would be the responsibility of the landowner, correct?

30:08 – 30:21•Jass K Sangha

Chair, I had a question. Go ahead. Actually, I have a couple questions. First of all, somebody already asked this, so I'll just echo that. You said the fence is about six to seven feet tall and then the solar panels are going between nine to 15.

30:36 – 30:57•Jass K Sangha

So even if it's 9 feet and the maximum height for the fence is about 6 to 7, what seems to be the purpose for the fence? Like exactly, I heard that it's for aesthetics, but... So it's not gonna be really covering the look. It's not like people cannot see it from a distance. They can still see that the panels are there.

31:11 – 31:23•Jass K Sangha

Okay, because usually the fence around the houses are not seven feet tall. But that being said, my next question is, have you spoken to the people who are neighbors or who are opposing to this? Have you guys done any outreach to them?

31:28•Jass K Sangha

Have you spoken to the Farm Bureau about it?

31:38•Lawrence Wight

Go ahead. When you're talking about the life expectancy of a solar panel, how long is that?

32:16•Lawrence Wight

Okay. Then once they're decommissioned, are they recycled or what happens to the panel?

34:55•Chris Meehleis

I do. Is that all right? Yeah, absolutely. On this fence that goes around, it's six feet chain link with slats. It has the wire ribbon across the top, I would assume.

35:09•Chris Meehleis

Okay. And then is there any like oleanders or plants or anything on the outside so you don't see just a fence line type of thing? I don't know.

35:54 – 36:06•Chris Meehleis

Okay. Sorry if that happens. Yeah. Is that 10 feet of weeds, or is that 10 feet of trees or oleanders? You know what I mean. Freeway oleanders all the way around the whole project, and then you wouldn't see it.

37:07 – 38:53•Gloryanna Rhodes

Okay, through the chair. Okay, so a fence, my neighbor's fence will cover half of the house. But when I look around me, I see houses. So the landscape is pretty much the same. I think that with the opposition letters, the issue was not only the traffic and all of that stuff, but also the fact that to them, they came to Tracy for the beauty of the landscape. And they really don't want to see the product of this. Now, my question to you is, yes, there are restrictions in terms of what you can and cannot do. But believe me that a tree surrounding this would be, I think, something that the residen

45:22 – 45:41•Gloryanna Rhodes

Through the chair, if you may. And I just would like to see the developer reach out. Yes. And I think that that was my message. Reach out because I didn't see big opposition. It was just like we want to see green. We don't want the traffic. And I think that a conversation will resolve that.

These excerpts are remarks by officials whose identity a person confirmed, from a transcript generated automatically from the official public meeting video and presented unedited. Accuracy may vary; view the original recording for reference.